Helene picked a walk for us to do during the mountain closure due to extreme drought conditions. It is always a tough choice to find a walk that can be done in the rising June temperatures. Fortunately we have the mighty Rio Grande and the shade of the Bosque to make this all possible. Even with that, it was quite warm, but we had a good turnout of eleven Hoofers. And as I always say, hiking is better than doing housework!
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| From the Bachechi Open Space we headed north along the irrigation ditches |
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| But not before we take a picture of all the Happy Hoofers: Rose, Bronwyn, Barb, Ginny, Pat, Helene: our leader, Karen, Jean R., Marilyn, Mary M. and Betty |
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| Heading out under the Alameda Overpass |
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| Over the shoulder shot |
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| Crossing the ditch to the West Side |
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| We started out hiking along the road |
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| Longingly looking at the trees to our left |
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| The water did look beautiful |
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| But the shade of those cottonwoods kept beckoning us |
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| Mutiny! I don't usually condone mutinies on hikes... but this one was too much for even me...9 of the Hoofers broke out in a run towards the trees...our leader Helene and Bronwyn on principle alone stayed on top |
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| How could we resist these magnificent cottonwoods? |
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| And the shade? |
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| Some pretty Nightshades |
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| This was almost as good as hiking in the mountains |
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| In fact it WAS as good! |
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| The Big EQUIS that helped hold the debris when the Rio Grande flooded years ago. I have heard that the Rio Grande would migrate through the years and in times past it would go all the way to Wyoming Blvd, before there was a Wyoming Blvd. |
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| Huge cotton balls on the Cottonwood Trees |
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| The ever-invasive Tamarisk (Salt Cedar) Tree |
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| The Mighty and Beautiful Rio Grande |
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| Dos Equis...for some reason I keep thinking about beer...(actually it is not beer that I am thinking about...this is the clue to the sex of my next grandchild coming in August) |
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| The Cottonwood are at least 200 years old! |
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| And they sure produce a lot of cotton...I wonder if you can make anything from this cotton? |
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| One thing about Cottonwoods, there big branches can fall easily |
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| Cross this gate and you are in Indian territory....Sandia Reservation to be exact |
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| On the return trip we cross the ditch and walk along the East side of the irrigation ditch |
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| We all decide to give up our mutiny against our leader Helene and her first mate Bronwyn |
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| Getting a picture of the rest of the mutineers |
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| This is the second new "house" we saw like this, made from modular buildings. This one had a small one off to the side and a larger one as the main house |
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| This is a view of the main house |
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| The front gate |
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| And here is a wire sculpture of a black bird--at first I thought it was real! |
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| Next door was this sign...guess it works well at keeping trespassers away! |
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| Proof that we had some nice shade along this path |
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| Over the shoulder shot |
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| Along with the shade we had some pretty Honeysuckle |
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| We were loudly greeted by these dogs |
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| They ran up and down along the fence line at break-neck speed all the while we walked past their territory. Kicking up quite a bit of dust as they did so. |
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| Globemallow |
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| An access point to the trail we were on from the neighborhood |
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| Passing by what I hoped was a pet cemetary |
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| Beautiful Hollyhocks |
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| Wouldn't you love this tree house? |
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| Orange Lily |
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| An extremely old cottonwood |
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| An overly-pruned Cottonwood (Looks like an iconic African Tree) |
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| A better well-pruned Cottonwood |
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| Passing some horse riders on the trail |
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| Needing a selfie |
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End of the trail
ALWAYS HAPPY HOOFING! |
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